André Onana | signed for United | On a flight to NYC

[Trex]

That’s not even enough to solve our issues

Its a huge step forward though. Not having to boot the ball long anytime an opponent forms a high block when we have a goal kick. And a center forward who gets into goal scoring position and is good with his back to play.
If not for a freakish City side I'll be confident we could go all the way.

 

[Alemar]

Its a huge step forward though. Not having to boot the ball long anytime an opponent forms a high block when we have a goal kick. And a center forward who gets into goal scoring position and is good with his back to play.
If not for a freakish City side I'll be confident we could go all the way.

Certainly it is a significant step forward. But still not enough to beat City in the league - we would need 3 signings on top of those to do so. Maybe even 4

 

[bosnian_red]

Certainly it is a significant step forward. But still not enough to beat City in the league - we would need 3 signings on top of those to do so. Maybe even 4

It's hard to say what is needed to beat City in the league. They have one of the best coaches of all time who dominates every league. Best you can do is what Klopp and Liverpool did, and they only managed to beat them to the title once despite making a crazy team themselves. It's not a certain amount of signings. It's more luck.

You can plan to get close and compete, but you still need to hope they have a down year essentially. At least while Pep is there. Different game when he leaves.

 

[DSG]

Yes, the point is very clear. Very clear. There is no universe in which a keeper makes a forward (on the same team) a more clinical finisher, which was by far our most glaring hole last season. Our goals conceded record was decent, but our goals scored record was abysmal. We created an abundant number of chances (substantiated above), but we were woeful on goal match after match, including the 1-0 defeat to West Ham made notorious by the De Gea howler for the ages.

Erling Haaland is not a clinical finisher because Ederson makes him one. De Bruyne and Rodri are not brilliant because Ederson makes them brilliant.

All I'm objecting is the argument that Onana was cause a "transformation" of the squad.

I’m with you. Only in very very rare cases would a goalkeeper have a transformational affect on the squad’s effectiveness. They simply don’t touch the ball enough in dangerous areas. If you look at launch % and number of passes, well, Chelsea has the lowest launch %, followed by Liverpool and Man City. We’re in the middle, about the same as Newcastle, with Arsenal at an even higher launch %.

How much is the contribution of Onana vs. DeGea? 3 passes per match? 1? 7? Is that enough to get us to 90 points on the season? I doubt it. Allison was transformative only because Karius was absolute crap across the board. DeGea just won the golden gloves. You can argue he is mediocre (I think that is accurate) and Onana is better, sure, but transformative is a big ask. Bruno was transformative when he arrived because he scored so many goals for us.

There absolutely will be a transformation though... Doesn't mean others don't need to do their bits, but I'd say our random occasional hammerings stick out far more than our goals total does. And one of the biggest causes of those hammerings were being unable to deal with the press of the opposition, leading to just gifting them the ball time and time again. Onana literally eliminates that. That whole bit of being unable to play through any press simply shouldn't be an issue with Onana, while it was a huge issue with de Gea. It helps relieve pressure, it helps us build up play and initiate attacks to make these games more even. Attackers need to score, but being able to play you want to play helps you get chances to score.

Our lack of goals is of course an issue, but it wasn't a "big issue" last season in terms of the end result of things. We grinded out a ton of games, won the games we should've won, and lost the games we got hammered in by play. There wasn't many games at all that we missed out on the win due to shit finishing or not having a top striker. Which is more a fluke than anything, you'd expect us to struggle more without a striker like last season, but ultimately the way the season ran, the points we picked up... Don't think a striker would've done more than a 5 point boost at most. Depends on the striker, but with de Gea playing out from the back, we would still struggle massively against a high press. So we would still get hammered by Newcastle, Liverpool, Arsenal, city away the way we did.

I absolutely think we will be better dealing with the press, but I would argue we were a lot better dealing with the press anyhow when we had Licha and Varane playing and not Maguire and Lindelof. To compound things, Fred and McTominay aren’t exactly Xavi and Busquets on the ball. Much of our improvement in playing through the press was Casemiro and Eriksen. In other words, Maguire + Lindelof + Fred + McTominay + DeGea was a high press disaster. We now have Eriksen/Mount + Casemiro + Licha + Varane + Onana. I wouldn’t call the addition of Onana as “transformative”. Ederson and Alison have had a bunch of passing mistakes like DeGea, it’s just they went on to win those matches because they were so good everywhere else on the pitch whereas we lost.

I’m not saying Onana won’t help us play the way we want, but I do think the Caf has exaggerated the effect Onana will have on the squad. When you look at it financially, yes, we’ll need to pay for Onana, say 50m, plus 6m per season salary, for a 16m per season outlay (when amortizing the transfer fee over 5 years). We were paying DeGea roughly 19m per season in just salary alone. We got younger and a bit better playing out of the back and we’re paying less money.

Fellas, let’s not overhype Onana. He’ll be a very good addition to the squad. Glad DeGea has moved on. But a world class striker would have the greatest impact BY FAR. Even improving MF, RW and fullback play would help more that a goalkeeper.

Furthermore, let’s assume that a real striker would score an additional 15-20 goals… that puts Our goal difference closer to 30-35 which is Arsenal range. Our GD was skewed because of the big losses, but some of those draws and losses turn into wins. I just don’t see how a goalkeeper gets you wins whereas A striker does.

 

[bosnian_red]

Imo both Onana and a new #9 are a must for us to solve our issues.

Clearly Onana would help us to progress the ball from the back and beat the press. But then we'd also need a reliable #9 to keep the ball and link the play to create more chances. And of course to finish those chances as well. Onana and a new #9 are both a must this summer I think.

Yup for sure. It'll be the first time in a very long time that we don't have a glaring weakness, that we've addressed every position and have solid cover everywhere. Past that it's getting some very good players to be elite players, and then just slight adjustments like getting more suitable depth to the manager (so a proper DM cover rather than McTominay next to Eriksen which isn't bad, just very different to the starters). Or swapping Maguire with a CB who fits Ten Hag more. But those 2 are relatively minor needs as we still have them as cover regardless.

We've been playing catch up and ignoring glaring issues for years now. So I look forward to addressing the glaring issues for once.

 

[bosnian_red]

I’m with you. Only in very very rare cases would a goalkeeper have a transformational affect on the squad’s effectiveness. They simply don’t touch the ball enough in dangerous areas. If you look at launch % and number of passes, well, Chelsea has the lowest launch %, followed by Liverpool and Man City. We’re in the middle, about the same as Newcastle, with Arsenal at an even higher launch %.

How much is the contribution of Onana vs. DeGea? 3 passes per match? 1? 7? Is that enough to get us to 90 points on the season? I doubt it. Allison was transformative only because Karius was absolute crap across the board. DeGea just won the golden gloves. You can argue he is mediocre (I think that is accurate) and Onana is better, sure, but transformative is a big ask. Bruno was transformative when he arrived because he scored so many goals for us.


I absolutely think we will be better dealing with the press, but I would argue we were a lot better dealing with the press anyhow when we had Licha and Varane playing and not Maguire and Lindelof. To compound things, Fred and McTominay aren’t exactly Xavi and Busquets on the ball. Much of our improvement in playing through the press was Casemiro and Eriksen. In other words, Maguire + Lindelof + Fred + McTominay + DeGea was a high press disaster. We now have Eriksen/Mount + Casemiro + Licha + Varane + Onana. I wouldn’t call the addition of Onana as “transformative”. Ederson and Alison have had a bunch of passing mistakes like DeGea, it’s just they went on to win those matches because they were so good everywhere else on the pitch whereas we lost.

I’m not saying Onana won’t help us play the way we want, but I do think the Caf has exaggerated the effect Onana will have on the squad. When you look at it financially, yes, we’ll need to pay for Onana, say 50m, plus 6m per season salary, for a 16m per season outlay (when amortizing the transfer fee over 5 years). We were paying DeGea roughly 19m per season in just salary alone. We got younger and a bit better playing out of the back and we’re paying less money.

Fellas, let’s not overhype Onana. He’ll be a very good addition to the squad. Glad DeGea has moved on. But a world class striker would have the greatest impact BY FAR. Even improving MF, RW and fullback play would help more that a goalkeeper.

I think if you look back and just compare the fa cup final with the CL final, the difference between the 2 goalkeepers can't be bigger. Even Pep spoke about it. The FA Cup final, they pressed high, we couldn't play out from the back, de Gea went long and gave it away time and time again. The CL final, City tried to press and Onana effortlessly played through it and got Inter into decent positions.

Yes we are better with Martinez especially but also Eriksen and casemiro, but Onana would be the biggest impact in terms of dealing with opposition press. It all starts way at the back with the goalkeeper. It gives you a spare man at all times that can ping it around the pitch and keep the flow going.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

When do they go to the US? I assumed the Leeds match tomorrow was in the US

 

[Johan77]

When do they go to the US? I assumed the Leeds match tomorrow was in the US

It's in Norway

 

[IrishRedDevil]

When do they go to the US? I assumed the Leeds match tomorrow was in the US

We play Arsenal over there on 22nd. We play Lyon in Scotland on 19th, then we must travel on 20th.

 

[united_99]

So how close are we currently? I assume we are still getting closer and closer …

 

[Castia]

The deal was apparently nearly done last Friday I’m amazed it’s not been done or even had a bid accepted at this point

 

[Dempsey19]

So how close are we currently? I assume we are still getting closer and closer …

We are very close, you could say close to close. But not super close. But close enough.

 

[Alemar]

It'll be the first time in a very long time that we don't have a glaring weakness

Only under assumption our best XI is fully available (which is rarely the case - so we realistically need 3 or 4 more quality signings for depth - and God knows how many outgoing transfers to make it happen)

 

[Strelok]

Yup for sure. It'll be the first time in a very long time that we don't have a glaring weakness, that we've addressed every position and have solid cover everywhere. Past that it's getting some very good players to be elite players, and then just slight adjustments like getting more suitable depth to the manager (so a proper DM cover rather than McTominay next to Eriksen which isn't bad, just very different to the starters). Or swapping Maguire with a CB who fits Ten Hag more. But those 2 are relatively minor needs as we still have them as cover regardless.

We've been playing catch up and ignoring glaring issues for years now. So I look forward to addressing the glaring issues for once.

Agree hope we get Onana and a good #9 soon. Then we'll see what we can do.

Regarding the title discussion. Imo we don't really have to be better than City to have a chance at the title. We only need to be able to consistently better than the rest and that'd be quite enough. A match is only 3 pts, we meet City only twice a season it's actually being able to get all the 3 pts from the lesser teams that is the most crucial thing in a title race imo.

Plus I may sound crazy but I don't think City would stay as dominant as recently for the next 3 years. They're already at the top from now it's the down hill and so far Pep has never proved himself to be good at refreshing his squad and keep the motivation high after success. SAF was a master at that but imo Pep is simply not. That guy probably couldn't keep his motivation himself and would end up somewhere else after next season. Or take a couple years off from football.

We should simply stop worrying about City but rather worrying about keep getting us better I think.

 

[Jimble]

So how close are we currently? I assume we are still getting closer and closer …

Yes we’re close, closer than close
Closer than you ever can imagine us
Let's get close, closer, yeah
Closer than you ever can imagine us

 

[reddevilz007]

As always, our negotiation team is slow.
Everything is inefficient with the Glazers.

 

[DSG]

I think if you look back and just compare the fa cup final with the CL final, the difference between the 2 goalkeepers can't be bigger. Even Pep spoke about it. The FA Cup final, they pressed high, we couldn't play out from the back, de Gea went long and gave it away time and time again. The CL final, City tried to press and Onana effortlessly played through it and got Inter into decent positions.

Yes we are better with Martinez especially but also Eriksen and casemiro, but Onana would be the biggest impact in terms of dealing with opposition press. It all starts way at the back with the goalkeeper. It gives you a spare man at all times that can ping it around the pitch and keep the flow going.

I think we’ll have to agree to disagree mate. I totally respect your opinion, but the mistake wasn’t really in the way we played out of the back. Ten Hag got his tactics right. Ederson didn’t even play in the final!!!. Our xG was superior to theirs. Gundogan’s two goals were .03 and .04 xG. DeGea didn’t try to save the first one and muffed the second. You look at Garnachos’s near miss, that pinball in the 90th minute in front of City’s goal… Our xG was superior even taking away the penalty of .8 xG. Sometimes “luck” is the difference. People look at possession stats and assume the better team is the one with the most possession. Real Madrid has proven time and again that possession is not what makes a team great.

Look, I’m not saying Onana won’t help us. He will. But let’s not exaggerate the impact.

 

[alexthelion]

Mount reportedly went from 80k a week at Chelsea to 250k 200k here (up to 300k 250k with bonuses). But that's quite fair imo given his profile. So you still got a point here. I only hope we'd stop being stupid at handling contracts.

Anyway checking the latest reports he'd be at 115k a week bonuses included so it seems we do learn from our mistakes.

About the same that Chelsea and Liverpool were going to offer him.

 

[pogbasformerbarber]

The timing of the De Gea goodbye tells you everything about this transfer happening. Once we knew parameters were in place that would be workable we said goodbye to David. It's happening this week.

 

[Alemar]

It's happening this week.

If we don’t announce tomorrow, medicals don’t happen on Thursday. And Friday is a day of flight to USA…

 

[alexthelion]

I’ve never understood why negotiations take this long, just blummen talk and agree!

Have to get the OK from the Glazers?

 

[Traub]

Have arsenal even officially signed Rice? This one is done

 

[nainaisson]

When do they go to the US? I assumed the Leeds match tomorrow was in the US

It is. Norway is our 51st state.

 

[Winrar]

The timing of the De Gea goodbye tells you everything about this transfer happening. Once we knew parameters were in place that would be workable we said goodbye to David. It's happening this week.

This makes sense in theory, or so we would think.

 

[Zoo]

 

[ROFLUTION]

2 key player deals probably done before pre-season.
Nice work transfer and negotiating team.

 

[alexthelion]

glad this is getting done, but kinda crazy Eth knew this guy, he was free last year, everyone in the club must have known Eth's style of play and how De Gea did not fit it, and we could have (clearly) blown Inter out of the water financially on wages, and yet we waited a year before going for him and now are paying £50m+ as a result.

 

[horsechoker]

If you read between the lines it sounds like he knows nothing

 

[bosnian_red]

Only under assumption our best XI is fully available (which is rarely the case - so we realistically need 3 or 4 more quality signings for depth - and God knows how many outgoing transfers to make it happen)

Our depth isn't bad though.
CF is iffy even with Hojlund as he's young, but we know that when getting him.

• Hojlund or Rashford top. Martial if he's fully fit (ha) to add depth is fine.
• Rashford, Garnacho or Sancho at LW
• Antony, Sancho, Mount or Bruno to go out to the right (or amad stays)
• Bruno, mount, Eriksen to be #8/10's
• Casemiro the main 6, McTominay to back him up (McTominay and Eriksen partnership is decent, especially when you look at them as the backup pairing)
• Shaw/Malacia LB
• Martinez/Shaw at LCB or Lindelof coming to LCB
• Varane/Lindelof or Maguire as 3rd choice RCB
• Dalot/Wan Bissaka RB

Any player goes down and we have decent cover at worst. Casemiro is the only one where it significantly changes in terms of system, but again, McTominay for all his faults can do a decent level as backup. But him and Maguire being replaced are the only 2 things I'd say for depth for us.

 

[Catt]

Just a shame we’ll have to play Henderson when he’s at AFCoN

Really poor planning by the club

 

[bosnian_red]

I think we’ll have to agree to disagree mate. I totally respect your opinion, but the mistake wasn’t really in the way we played out of the back. Ten Hag got his tactics right. Ederson didn’t even play in the final!!!. Our xG was superior to theirs. Gundogan’s two goals were .03 and .04 xG. DeGea didn’t try to save the first one and muffed the second. You look at Garnachos’s near miss, that pinball in the 90th minute in front of City’s goal… Our xG was superior even taking away the penalty of .8 xG. Sometimes “luck” is the difference. People look at possession stats and assume the better team is the one with the most possession. Real Madrid has proven time and again that possession is not what makes a team great.

Look, I’m not saying Onana won’t help us. He will. But let’s not exaggerate the impact.

I agree we were relatively unlucky in the final and that de Gea bottled the 2nd goal (and first was a fluke). But in general play, we had a really hard time to build up anything. We couldn't go long, we couldn't play out from the back. It resulted in a weird and choppy game but we did get a couple of big chances. Onana changes that loads IMO, but anyway. Think you'll be surprised!

 

[Smores]

I expect the fee is actually agreed and its now just terms of payment I.e. up front or phased.

If not and you're Inter you'd have added ten million on as soon as De Gea announced his departure.

 

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

Another non-update update

 

[Erik the Red]

Our depth isn't bad though.
CF is iffy even with Hojlund as he's young, but we know that when getting him.

• Hojlund or Rashford top. Martial if he's fully fit (ha) to add depth is fine.
• Rashford, Garnacho or Sancho at LW
• Antony, Sancho, Mount or Bruno to go out to the right (or amad stays)
• Bruno, mount, Eriksen to be #8/10's
• Casemiro the main 6, McTominay to back him up (McTominay and Eriksen partnership is decent, especially when you look at them as the backup pairing)
• Shaw/Malacia LB
• Martinez/Shaw at LCB or Lindelof coming to LCB
• Varane/Lindelof or Maguire as 3rd choice RCB
• Dalot/Wan Bissaka RB

Any player goes down and we have decent cover at worst. Casemiro is the only one where it significantly changes in terms of system, but again, McTominay for all his faults can do a decent level as backup. But him and Maguire being replaced are the only 2 things I'd say for depth for us.

I know Onana likes to play like a centre forward, but playing with no keeper at all is a new strategy on me...

 

[criticalanalysis]

I’m with you. Only in very very rare cases would a goalkeeper have a transformational affect on the squad’s effectiveness. They simply don’t touch the ball enough in dangerous areas. If you look at launch % and number of passes, well, Chelsea has the lowest launch %, followed by Liverpool and Man City. We’re in the middle, about the same as Newcastle, with Arsenal at an even higher launch %.

How much is the contribution of Onana vs. DeGea? 3 passes per match? 1? 7? Is that enough to get us to 90 points on the season? I doubt it. Allison was transformative only because Karius was absolute crap across the board. DeGea just won the golden gloves. You can argue he is mediocre (I think that is accurate) and Onana is better, sure, but transformative is a big ask. Bruno was transformative when he arrived because he scored so many goals for us.


I absolutely think we will be better dealing with the press, but I would argue we were a lot better dealing with the press anyhow when we had Licha and Varane playing and not Maguire and Lindelof. To compound things, Fred and McTominay aren’t exactly Xavi and Busquets on the ball. Much of our improvement in playing through the press was Casemiro and Eriksen. In other words, Maguire + Lindelof + Fred + McTominay + DeGea was a high press disaster. We now have Eriksen/Mount + Casemiro + Licha + Varane + Onana. I wouldn’t call the addition of Onana as “transformative”. Ederson and Alison have had a bunch of passing mistakes like DeGea, it’s just they went on to win those matches because they were so good everywhere else on the pitch whereas we lost.

I’m not saying Onana won’t help us play the way we want, but I do think the Caf has exaggerated the effect Onana will have on the squad. When you look at it financially, yes, we’ll need to pay for Onana, say 50m, plus 6m per season salary, for a 16m per season outlay (when amortizing the transfer fee over 5 years). We were paying DeGea roughly 19m per season in just salary alone. We got younger and a bit better playing out of the back and we’re paying less money.

Fellas, let’s not overhype Onana. He’ll be a very good addition to the squad. Glad DeGea has moved on. But a world class striker would have the greatest impact BY FAR. Even improving MF, RW and fullback play would help more that a goalkeeper.

Furthermore, let’s assume that a real striker would score an additional 15-20 goals… that puts Our goal difference closer to 30-35 which is Arsenal range. Our GD was skewed because of the big losses, but some of those draws and losses turn into wins. I just don’t see how a goalkeeper gets you wins whereas A striker does.

As a 'I can understand if people don't see things as rosy and have doubts', you were doing so well until the bolded.

Sure, let's not exaggerate how transformative Onana can potentially become but let's not diminish his quality in relation to De Gea. A bit better playing out of the back? They couldn't be more at the opposite ends of quality.

 

[dubplate warrior]

I’m with you. Only in very very rare cases would a goalkeeper have a transformational affect on the squad’s effectiveness. They simply don’t touch the ball enough in dangerous areas. If you look at launch % and number of passes, well, Chelsea has the lowest launch %, followed by Liverpool and Man City. We’re in the middle, about the same as Newcastle, with Arsenal at an even higher launch %.

How much is the contribution of Onana vs. DeGea? 3 passes per match? 1? 7? Is that enough to get us to 90 points on the season? I doubt it. Allison was transformative only because Karius was absolute crap across the board. DeGea just won the golden gloves. You can argue he is mediocre (I think that is accurate) and Onana is better, sure, but transformative is a big ask. Bruno was transformative when he arrived because he scored so many goals for us.


I absolutely think we will be better dealing with the press, but I would argue we were a lot better dealing with the press anyhow when we had Licha and Varane playing and not Maguire and Lindelof. To compound things, Fred and McTominay aren’t exactly Xavi and Busquets on the ball. Much of our improvement in playing through the press was Casemiro and Eriksen. In other words, Maguire + Lindelof + Fred + McTominay + DeGea was a high press disaster. We now have Eriksen/Mount + Casemiro + Licha + Varane + Onana. I wouldn’t call the addition of Onana as “transformative”. Ederson and Alison have had a bunch of passing mistakes like DeGea, it’s just they went on to win those matches because they were so good everywhere else on the pitch whereas we lost.

I’m not saying Onana won’t help us play the way we want, but I do think the Caf has exaggerated the effect Onana will have on the squad. When you look at it financially, yes, we’ll need to pay for Onana, say 50m, plus 6m per season salary, for a 16m per season outlay (when amortizing the transfer fee over 5 years). We were paying DeGea roughly 19m per season in just salary alone. We got younger and a bit better playing out of the back and we’re paying less money.

Fellas, let’s not overhype Onana. He’ll be a very good addition to the squad. Glad DeGea has moved on. But a world class striker would have the greatest impact BY FAR. Even improving MF, RW and fullback play would help more that a goalkeeper.

Furthermore, let’s assume that a real striker would score an additional 15-20 goals… that puts Our goal difference closer to 30-35 which is Arsenal range. Our GD was skewed because of the big losses, but some of those draws and losses turn into wins. I just don’t see how a goalkeeper gets you wins whereas A striker does.

We had one of the deepest defensive lines in the Premier league last season. Watch that change this year.

 

[Teja]

Our depth isn't bad though.
CF is iffy even with Hojlund as he's young, but we know that when getting him.

• Hojlund or Rashford top. Martial if he's fully fit (ha) to add depth is fine.
• Rashford, Garnacho or Sancho at LW
• Antony, Sancho, Mount or Bruno to go out to the right (or amad stays)
• Bruno, mount, Eriksen to be #8/10's
• Casemiro the main 6, McTominay to back him up (McTominay and Eriksen partnership is decent, especially when you look at them as the backup pairing)
• Shaw/Malacia LB
• Martinez/Shaw at LCB or Lindelof coming to LCB
• Varane/Lindelof or Maguire as 3rd choice RCB
• Dalot/Wan Bissaka RB

Any player goes down and we have decent cover at worst. Casemiro is the only one where it significantly changes in terms of system, but again, McTominay for all his faults can do a decent level as backup. But him and Maguire being replaced are the only 2 things I'd say for depth for us.

I'm still optimistic that we'll get a DM. We need to get sales over the line but Fred, Elanga, Amad, Greenwood, McT are all attracting interest. Hopefully one of Fred / McT leaving is enough to fund the Amrabat purchase and we'll be sorted in terms of the depth. Casemiro will still be a big miss but we don't need to overhaul the tactics for one player. Amrabat will be plug and play. Also feel like we're in a comfortable position with Case, so we should take a punt on a cheap DM from South America or Japan or something.

I think tactically the biggest gap is Varane - you see the partnership in build up that Martinez and Timber had and the kinds of runs that he made - no one can quite provide that option and that makes our build up still vulnerable to organized pressing. e.g.,

 

[sullydnl]

It's not so much that swapping De Gea for Onana will in itself immediately transform the team, as the main advantages Onana brings tactically in sweeping and better passing ability only come into play if the rest of the team allows it.

Playing with a higher line only works if we press better than we did last season. Being able to get the ball from defence into midfield still relies on your midfielders being able to receive the ball well. And at that point you still need to be able to progress the ball forward from there. Better long balls still require someone better than Rashford battling for them. Onana won't in and of himself transform those parts of the team, just as De Gea wasn't responsible for them. They all still need their own improvement.

What the swap does do is lift our ceiling. Onana won't magically turn us into a team that plays the way ETH wants, he just doesn't preclude us playing that way as De Gea did.

 

[sullydnl]

I'm still optimistic that we'll get a DM. We need to get sales over the line but Fred, Elanga, Amad, Greenwood, McT are all attracting interest. Hopefully one of Fred / McT leaving is enough to fund the Amrabat purchase and we'll be sorted in terms of the depth. Casemiro will still be a big miss but we don't need to overhaul the tactics for one player. Amrabat will be plug and play. Also feel like we're in a comfortable position with Case, so we should take a punt on a cheap DM from South America or Japan or something.

I think tactically the biggest gap is Varane - you see the partnership in build up that Martinez and Timber had and the kinds of runs that he made - no one can quite provide that option and that makes our build up still vulnerable to organized pressing. e.g.,

I would say it's the right side of our back four more generally. There's an obvious imbalance between what Varane + Dalot/AWB offer in possession on one side and Martinez + Shaw on the other. Or what Timber + Mazraoui provided for Ajax.

 

[Teja]

I would say it's the right side of our back four more generally. There's an obvious imbalance between what Varane + Dalot/AWB offer in possession on one side and Martinez + Shaw on the other. Or what Timber + Mazraoui provided for Ajax.

I feel Dalot and AwB each have their qualities that make them decent enough in possession. AwB is pretty hard to dispossess when he runs with the ball and Dalot has a decent line breaking pass on him. Varane seems to be able to carry the ball okay but doesn't do much after he runs with it. I also don't think he's the type to pull off those quick movement patterns (Casemiro drops and Varane darts off into LCM or whatever to create the passing angle for Martinez for a few seconds).

I agree with your other point above that our high press has not been the best - it looks more structured than the Ole days but still a step or two behind. The 7-0 shows the gaps there still. Our mid block is pretty solid in general and we force reasonable numbers of high turnovers that result in shots. (3rd in the league behind Brighton and Arsenal; above Pool, City etc.)